I'll let Douglas Keeney's own words and this image speak for themselves: "The geography of human conflict as seen from space at night. The Strait of Hormuz as seen at night from the space station is a beautiful lesson in the geography of conflict. How much we learn by simply tracing the fingers of human populations as seen superimposed over the geography of Earth. Enjoy."

-From Lights of Mankind: Earth at Night From Space

What would a picture look like from a drone's perspective? Where are these places that are being targeted? This Instagram account is incredibly thought-provoking and informative.

Most likely, these lights represent urban areas which contains a higher population. As we can see in this photo, one territory stands out more not because of it's lights, but because we know that it is a higher population. Also we see urban areas that "never sleeps." What I mean by "never sleeps" is that the city functions late at night and still has people explore it 24/7.

A list compiled from the google doc at #edcampcentralne of their Appy Hour. Also curated from the #nebedchat. A great list of apps. | Stellar Speller By WAPX LLC, Shake-a-Phrase: Fun With Words and Sentences By Artgig Studio, Bluster! By McGraw-Hill School Education Group, Whirly Word By Mighty Mighty Good Games, and ScootPad By ScootPad Corporation

Whether it’s Minecraft or duct tape wallets, the childhood passions that seem like fads, if not totally unproductive, can alternatively be seen as mediums for experiencing the virtuous cycle of curiosity: discovering, trying, failing and growing. At DIY, we’ve created a way for kids to explore hundreds of skills and to understand the ways in which they can be creative through them. Often, the skills are unconventional, and almost always the results are surprising. I don’t think it’s important that kids use the skills they learn on DIY for the rest of their lives. What’s important is that kids develop the muscle to be fearless learners so that they are never stuck with the skills they have. Only this will prepare them for a world where change is accelerating and depending on a single skill to provide a lifetime career is becoming impossible.

I am a huge proponent of using hands-on, interactive learning activities to explore ill-defined problems as a way of teaching for all age groups. Given the spontaneity and uncertainty of these types of active learning environments, I believe educators should observe, reflect on, and analyze how learners interact with the materials, the content, the educator, and the other learners. This practice is in line with the teacher as ethnographer.

In my role as a teacher as ethnographer, I made some initial observations during my first two weeks of teaching maker education for elementary age students. With half the kids under 7, I learned a bunch about young makers.

“I can’t do this.” is often a sign or signal of frustration and should not be brushed off by parents/teachers. Kids need to be in an environment that allows them to persevere and work at the problem even multiple times, until they themselves find the solution. The lesson they will learn is that effort will often produce positive results.

A key goal of maker-centered education is to help young people and adults feel empowered to build and shape their worlds. Acquiring this sense of maker empowerment is strongly supported by learning to notice and engage with the designed dimension of one’s physical and conceptual environment—in other words, by having a sensitivity to design. This sensitivity develops when young people and adults have opportunities to: look closely and reflect on the design of objects and systems, explore the complexity of design, and understand themselves as designers of their worlds.

According to Google Trends (see photo), a new term came into existence and quickly became synonymous with progressive education and a resurgence of STEAM education in America. That term is maker education, or makered for short, and can be seen in the graph as “born” according to google searches, around September of 2004. Although the exact number of makered programs is not currently known, schools that employ a progressive pedagogy (insert the word innovative for those working in the 21st century) or schools that make claims regarding the importance of differentiation, constructivism or experiential learning have built or are building makered programs. At first these programs seemed to be dependent on having state of the art Maker Spaces or FabLabs and high-tech tools, as most were found in well-funded private schools. That picture has changed rapidly in the past ten years since the makered movement has gained popularity, however. More and more public/charter schools and nonprofit programs are building programs for the average American child, that rival many private school programs. In fact, programs with limited budgets and space have reminded us that scarcity or “disability,” are invaluable teachers in any good maker culture, as they breed creativity and self-reliance. Many of the makered programs serving lower income communities have access to mentors who never stopped working with their hands, even when it fell out of status in a consumer driven America in the 1980’s (Curtis 2002). While lower income mentors may not know Python or what an Arduino is, they are skilled carpenters, mechanics, seamstresses, cooks and know what it means to be resourceful.

Today we are sharing with you a list of some of the best audio recording apps you can use on your Android-operated device. All of these apps are rated 4 stars and up in Google Play store. Some of the things you can do with them include: record audio clips (e.g lectures, audio notes…etc), customize and edit your recordings, share your recordings via email or embed them into cloud-based storage platforms such as Dropbox and Google Drive and many more. For iPad users, check out this list.

Math needs better PR. When it comes to coolness math really should be up there with the new iPad, the latest X-Factor winner and whichever color is fashionable this season. Often people actually think that it’s cool to not be able to do math! As part of Maths Insider’s mission to make math cool I’ve pulled the best math quotes from the Twitter stream @Math_Quotes, and used my limited artistic skills to add them to some nice backgrounds (Powerpoint templates in fact!). Enjoy and do share them with your friends and family! Math needs all the PR it can get!

I normally don't like to create "click bait" blog post titles, but this one seemed to fit. Twenty-five resources can be overwhelming, but there is a good mix of different types of items. There are links to websites with lesson plans, iOS apps, books, videos, and samples of student work to fit your learning style.

Scratch was developed by MIT a little over eight years ago. It uses a visual programming language that is easy to start for stud

With the explosion of 3D printing in schools around the world, the variety and impressiveness of things that students and teachers are printing with this powerful technology grows every day.

Check out all these different objects that have been created with 3D printers. Some of these items are changing people’s lives! Hopefully some of these ideas can inspire you to start exploring 3D printing, or to try something new if you’re already using this wonderful technology.

Tony Vincent is the creator of one of my favorite websites, Learning in Hand. He also created the fun creative app, Stick Around. Tony is a fan of making things. It is no surprise at all that he loves the app, Periscope. Periscope allows you to live stream video with a click of a link shared on Twitter. John Spencer and I recently sat down with Tony to shoot the breeze on all things tech. The conversation is captured in the video below fro

Learning by making has been around since long before edtech—just think about what the adventurous explorers or intrepid settlers of yore would have thought of "Do-It-Yourself." But with thousands of kid-friendly tech tools and a whole World Wide Web of resources out there, creative, interesting opportunities for learning-by-making abound for everyone.

Okay, so with all those resources, where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.

Read on for ideas from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace.

Making on a budget? We surely do. We've got ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms.

A key goal of maker-centered education is to help young people and adults feel empowered to build and shape their worlds. Acquiring this sense of maker empowerment is strongly supported by learning to notice and engage with the designed dimension of one’s physical and conceptual environment—in other words, by having a sensitivity to design. This sensitivity develops when young people and adults have opportunities to: look closely and reflect on the design of objects and systems, explore the complexity of design, and understand themselves as designers of their worlds.

We have, however, recently expanded upon our Makerspace offerings thanks to being inspired by several of my librarian friends in our amazing #TLChat PLN! Kids can come in during lunch or when they've finished their work to explore, craft, and create in the Library Media Center.

I re-purposed 4 empty study carrels for this Makerspace center at the top corner of our library. The grouping includes a Lego Creation Station, a Duct Tape Craft Cubby, and a Makey Makey Coding Corner."

What are the real benefits of a maker-centered approach to learning? It’s often described as a way to incubate STEM skills or drive technical innovation — and it is probably both of these. But as a new report from Project Zero’s Agency by Design concludes, the real value of maker education has more to do with building character than with building the next industrial revolution.

“Minecraft can help students visualize concepts, work on communication and collaboration skills, foster positive online behavior, [and] differentiate for students who need more than just words in a textbook”

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